The singer quoted from an op-ed responding to recent Ryan Adams abuse allegations while picking up the prize for Best British Group
The 1975 won two prizes at last night’s Brit Awards, with the Manchester band taking home the awards for Best British Group and Best British Album for their third full-length, A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships.
Accepting the prize for Best British Group, the band’s Matty Healy used his speech to call out misogyny in the music industry, quoting the words of music journalist Laura Snapes, who recently wrote an op-ed for The Guardian responding to the Ryan Adams abuse allegations.
“I just want you to listen to me for one sec. I just thought you should all really, really think about it,” Healy said. “A friend of ours, Laura Snapes, said this: ‘Male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and examined as traits of difficult artists while women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don’t understand art.’”
Oh my god. Eight-year-old me is dying. @Truman_Black just read from my Ryan Adams piece at the #BRITS. I am gobsmacked, and honoured that he'd use his platform to make this statement https://t.co/mVx3lqCwkU
— Laura Snapes (@laurasnapes) February 20, 2019
The band also performed their single “Sincerity is Scary” during the ceremony.
The awards were otherwise, by and large, a snoozefest. Beyoncé and Jay-Z, aka The Carters, accepted their award for International Group via video message, sending a recording of them in front of a regal painting of Meghan Markle. Aphex Twin was inexplicably nominated for Male Solo Artist, but was pipped to the prize by George Ezra. Some guy called Tom Walker won British Breakthrough Act. Cool stuff!
Watch The 1975’s acceptance speech below, and revisit our interview with Matty Healy here.